Interactive television system technologies are currently being introduced into the telecommunications scene. These technologies are being applied primarily to provide entertainment and educational opportunities to the television industry. Interactive capability has been developed using one-way systems through the provision of multiple parallel channels of information, related in content to one another. For example, commonly owned Freeman et al. patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,264,924 and 4,264,925, disclose interactive television systems where switching among multiple broadcast or cable channels based on viewer selections in response to interrogatory messages allows an interactive capability.
These systems have been enhanced to include memory functions using computer logic and memory, where selection of system responses played to the viewer are based on the processing and storage of subscriber responses, as disclosed in Freeman patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,680.
The benefits of providing interactivity through the use of different audio responses was disclosed in Freeman, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,847,698, 4,847,699, and 4,847,700. These television systems provide a common video signal accompanied by several synchronized audio channels to provide content related user selectable responses. The audio signals produce different audio responses, and in some cases, these are syllable synched to a first audio script and to the video signal (such as to a person or character on the display) providing the perception that the person's or character's mouth movements matched the spoken words.
These prior art systems generally provided interactive capability through the use of several parallel related information segments, each segment requiring a separate channel. What is needed is a fully functional interactive program which can be normally received by noninteractive television receivers as a conventional video broadcast. What is needed is a system not limited to receiving multiple parallel tracks of audio transmitted simultaneously. What is needed is an interactive system where interactivity is not restricted to a question and answer format. Because channel capacity is limited in most transmission systems today, what is needed is a system where full interactivity is provided in the same bandwidth as currently required by a standard television signal. What is needed is a system that individualizes the interactive experience through personalized graphics video overlay and personalized audio channels. What is needed is a system for providing a fully interactive capability to every home, regardless of transmission media. What is needed is a system for simulcasting both conventional television programming and a full interactive program, all within the same signal.